Schizophrenia is actually eight genetically distinct disorders, study reveals

[Perspicuo]

Schizophrenia is actually eight genetically distinct disorders, study reveals
http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20141609-26184.html

Scientists have identified eight separate clusters of genetic variations that, together, carry a 70 to 100 percent risk of a patient developing a certain type of schizophrenia.

The discovery could revolutionise diagnosis and treatment for the debilitating psychiatric illness. Scientists already knew that around 80 percent of the risk of schizophrenia is inherited, but have struggled for decades to identify specific genes linked to the condition.

But a new approach has analysed the DNA of more than 4,000 people with the illness, and have identified that there are actually eight different classes of schizophrenia, each influenced by distinct gene clusters.

The research was led by scientists from the Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis in the US.

“Genes don’t operate by themselves,” said C. Robert Cloninger, one of the senior investigators, in a press release. “They function in concert much like an orchestra, and to understand how they’re working, you have to know not just who the members of the orchestra are but how they interact.”

 

[EricK]

Are they saying Schizophrenia has Multiple Personality Disorder?

 

[untermensche]

Now many young people will find out that they have a much higher chance of getting schizophrenia than the general public. And there is no way to prevent it from coming on.

That will be very disturbing for a lot of people.

Knowing that there are different genetic causes may help with treatment though.

 

[barbos]

left handed people are 4 times more likely to have Schizophrenia than right handed.

 

[Bronzeage]

That's crazy talk.

 

[Deepak]

left handed people are 4 times more likely to have Schizophrenia than right handed.

That questionnaire was a lie concocted by the FBI and the Mole People to know which hand to slip the RFID chip into.

I fooled them good...

 

[bilby]

left handed people are 4 times more likely to have Schizophrenia than right handed.

Perhaps; but given that four times not very much equals not very much, I don't think they need to worry very much.

 

[barbos]

left handed people are 4 times more likely to have Schizophrenia than right handed.

Perhaps; but given that four times not very much equals not very much, I don't think they need to worry very much.

Well, 10% people are left-handed, and 0.5% get Schizophrenia.
that means Schizophrenia rate is 0.38% for right handed and 1.54% for left-handed.

 

[Perspicuo]

Are they saying Schizophrenia has Multiple Personality Disorder?

What I understand they are saying is schizophrenia is(are) variegated. Like fast food restaurant combos of 8 different genes: say, A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H. You can have A+B, A+C, A+D... B+C, B+D, B+E... G+H, giving different symptom combinations and intensities. Or something like it.

If my interpretation is correct, that would make schizophrenic genes very common, enough for the disorder to show with the prevalence it does (0.3–0.7% of the population, or more exactly: cit.). I doubt it, because then the heritability would have been much harder to detect, and its been a while since it was found, when research methods were not as advanced as they are today.

So perhaps it just takes one of them, and instead of the centenary distinction of three subtypes (paranoid, disorganized and catatonic), we have eight.

 

[Sabine Grant]

Granted that was about 25 years ago as my mother was diagnosed, but there was not yet a consensus that schizophrenia had any genetic origin. Much of the research still relied on theories to include a virus triggered pathology occurring in utero. Or a combination of nature and nurture. Meaning a genetic predisposition however becoming active based on specific triggers related to nurture.Some individuals remaining asymptomatic.

At this point, Perspicuo, is there any clinically supported demonstration regarding the origin of those genes? Are there the product of a mutation prompted by an environmental factor? Could we even venture in transgenerational epigenetic inheritance playing a role?

 

[barbos]

Are they saying Schizophrenia has Multiple Personality Disorder?

What I understand they are saying is schizophrenia is(are) variegated. Like fast food restaurant combos of 8 different genes: say, A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H. You can have A+B, A+C, A+D... B+C, B+D, B+E... G+H, giving different symptom combinations and intensities. Or something like it.

If my interpretation is correct, that would make schizophrenic genes very common, enough for the disorder to show with the prevalence it does (0.3–0.7% of the population, or more exactly: cit.). I doubt it, because then the heritability would have been much harder to detect, and its been a while since it was found, when research methods were not as advanced as they are today.

So perhaps it just takes one of them, and instead of the centenary distinction of three subtypes (paranoid, disorganized and catatonic), we have eight.

What they say is that there are 8 particular gene clusters which can cause what we call Schizophrenia.
I bet some of these genes trigger left-handiness too.

 

[Perspicuo]

Granted that was about 25 years ago as my mother was diagnosed, but there was not yet a consensus that schizophrenia had any genetic origin. Much of the research still relied on theories to include a virus triggered pathology occurring in utero. Or a combination of nature and nurture. Meaning a genetic predisposition however becoming active based on specific triggers related to nurture.Some individuals remaining asymptomatic.

At this point, Perspicuo, is there any clinically supported demonstration regarding the origin of those genes?

Zero.

Granted that was about 25 years ago as my mother was diagnosed, but there was not yet a consensus that schizophrenia had any genetic origin. Much of the research still relied on theories to include a virus triggered pathology occurring in utero. Or a combination of nature and nurture. Meaning a genetic predisposition however becoming active based on specific triggers related to nurture.Some individuals remaining asymptomatic.

At this point, Perspicuo, is there any clinically supported demonstration regarding the origin of those genes? Are there the product of a mutation prompted by an environmental factor? Could we even venture in transgenerational epigenetic inheritance playing a role?

This is on the wild frontier of psychiatry. Nothing solid as of yet. Except, of course, that genetics is an undeniable influence, very very probably the most important of the nature/nurture pair, to my knowledge.

 

[Speakpigeon]

I bet some of these genes trigger left-handiness too.

handiness - skillfulness with the hands;
left-handedness - preference for using the left hand.

Still, an interesting mix-up.

Maybe even done on purpose...

Definition given by Webster's 1828 English Dictionary: LEFT-HAND'INESS n. Awkwardness.

Well, schizophrenia is some kind of awkwardness for sure.
EB

 

[fromderinside]

Doh.

 

[Elixir]

Are they saying Schizophrenia has Multiple Personality Disorder?

What I understand they are saying is schizophrenia is(are) variegated. Like fast food restaurant combos of 8 different genes: say, A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H.

So ADHD is one form?

 

[fromderinside]

What I understand they are saying is schizophrenia is(are) variegated. Like fast food restaurant combos of 8 different genes: say, A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H.

So ADHD is one form?

NO. Look to the obvious. Even the alphabet from which the eight for schizophrenia were characterized has 26 characters.